(Kinshasa) As elections approach, human rights activists deplore a decline in democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where journalists languish in prison while the murder of an opponent remains unsolved.
A former minister was assassinated in July in Kinshasa. Two months later, a renowned journalist, accused of spreading false information about the murder, was arrested.
“These are signs of a shrinking of the democratic space,” said one of the activists interviewed by AFP, on condition of anonymity.
Félix Tshisekedi heavily criticized the record of his predecessor Joseph Kabila, among other things in terms of human rights, and freed hundreds of political prisoners after his accession to the presidency in January 2019.
PHOTO PATRICK MEINHARDT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Election banner of the outgoing president, Félix Tshisekedi.
The first year of his mandate “marked a kind of opportunity,” notes the activist. But, according to him, intimidation of critical voices started again in 2020, and culminated this year with “a repression against members of the opposition”.
Félix Tshisekedi is running for a second term in the December 20 elections.
The DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its immense mineral wealth. It also has a long history of autocratic regimes.
Floribert Anzuluni, presidential candidate and former human rights activist, notes that electoral periods often herald repression of dissent. “That’s the case today” again, he said.
At the end of May, military intelligence arrested Salomon Idi Kalonda, close advisor to the opponent and presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi, in Kinshasa. Detained since then, he is accused of collusion with the M23 rebels, active in the east of the country, and with their alleged sponsor, Rwanda.
In mid-July, the body of Chérubin Okende, former Minister of Transport and ally of Moïse Katumbi, was found riddled with bullets in his car.
Impunity
The government condemned this murder and an investigation was opened, but with no known results at this stage. “Justice does not seem to be doing its job,” laments Mr. Anzuluni.
On September 8, Stanis Bujakera, a renowned Congolese journalist and correspondent for the Reuters agency and the magazine Jeune Afrique, was arrested, accused of having disseminated false information on the Okende affair.
He was arrested after the publication of an article by Young Africa, not signed with his name, suggesting that military intelligence had assassinated the opponent. The article was based on a confidential memo that authorities said was a fake.
This arrest sparked a wave of international protests, but Stanis Bujakera remains in prison and his trial is ongoing.
Eric Nsenga, who works on human rights and elections for the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC), a federation of Protestant churches, believes that criticism can be expressed under the Tshisekedi regime. But the arrest of Stanis Bujakera “reflects an image of intimidation,” he said.
Other arrests, targeting lesser-known people, have gone unnoticed, rights defenders add.
This month, for example, opponent Lens Omelonga was released after seven months in prison. He was arrested after criticizing the foundation of Félix Tshisekedi’s wife on social networks.
According to Fred Bauma, director of the Ebuteli think tank, the repression has gone unnoticed for a long time, particularly in the east of the country, where demonstrators have been victims of arbitrary arrests.
In 2021, Félix Tshisekedi placed two eastern provinces under a “state of siege”, a measure intended to combat armed groups. But it has largely failed, while facilitating the repression of dissent.
The president announced a reduction in this measure, after an elite army unit massacred at the end of August more than 50 members of a religious sect who were preparing a demonstration in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu.
The government deplored this massacre and several soldiers were convicted. But human rights defenders express frustration at the accumulation of cases and the apparent impunity of senior officials.
“They managed to deceive a large part of the international community,” said one of them. According to him, the government continues to want to give a good image, but reality does not follow.
A government spokesperson was not available for comment when contacted.